No McCaffrey? No problem for emboldened Panthers run game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Christian McCaffrey had been the lone vibrant spot on the league’s thirty second ranked offense by six video games this season, accounting for 39.8% of the Carolina Panthers’ yards from scrimmage.

So when the Panthers traded the 2019 All-Professional operating again to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday evening, the one logical expectation was the Panthers would go from unhealthy to worse, proper?

Solely that didn’t occur Sunday.

The Panthers ran for a season-high 173 yards behind D’Onta Foreman and Chuba Hubbard and the 13 1/2-point underdogs rolled previous Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3.

Offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo took {the handcuffs} off quarterback P.J. Walker, who was restricted to 60 yards passing in a 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams final week, and he threw completed with 177 yards and two touchdowns on some spectacular downfield throws.

Foreman had simply 12 carries and Hubbard six coming into the sport.

“I feel all of us consider that if we are able to get the operating recreation going it’s going to open up so much for the passing recreation,” mentioned Foreman, who ran for 118 yards on 15 carries. “And P.J. Walker performed an ideal recreation, and I really feel like we helped him simply with the ability to run the ball and have him all balanced. You recognize we weren’t one dimensional as we speak. We had been in a position to do just about what we needed to do.”

Panthers guard Austin Corbett mentioned after shedding McCaffrey, the offensive line put it on themselves to step up.

“Yeah, little doubt, particularly as a result of (the commerce) occurred a bit of later within the week,” Corbett mentioned.

McCaffrey was a well-liked and revered participant within the locker room due to his work ethic, and the departure of No. 22 may have simply gutted the crew and despatched it right into a freefall.

Many followers thought the crew was tanking it for the No. 1 decide in subsequent yr’s NFL draft.

As an alternative, McCaffrey’s departure appeared to provoke the Panthers (2-5), who at the moment are only one recreation behind the Bucs and Falcons within the NFC South and the one crew with out a divisional loss at 2-0.

Interim coach Steve Wilks made an impassioned plea to gamers on the crew lodge on Saturday evening, urging them to maintain urgent ahead, promising that higher issues are across the nook.

“I informed guys we have now to go on the market with a leap of religion and consider in each other and that when we do this, we are going to actually take off,” Wilks mentioned. “That was the emphasis and guys actually purchased into that.”

The operating recreation is what finally broke the Bucs.

Whereas Carolina’s protection was busy stymying seven-time Tremendous Bowl champion Brady, the Panthers leaned on the Bucs on the line of scrimmage within the second half. The dam broke on Foreman’s 60-yard go off the precise aspect, organising a Hubbard’s 17-yard TD run for a 14-0 lead. Walker added a TD cross to Tommy Tremble within the fourth quarter to place the sport away.

“These males on this room have an excessive amount of character and our crew didn’t even fathom one thing like that,” Wilks mentioned with reference to tanking.

McCaffrey’s impression with the Panthers can’t be understated.

He racked up 7,272 yards from scrimmage — 3,980 dashing and three,292 receiving — in 65 video games performed and scored 50 touchdowns after arriving because the eighth total draft decide in 2017.

After being traded, McCaffrey informed Wilks he needed to talk along with his former teammates to want them properly and thank them. However as a result of he needed to catch an early morning flight to the Bay Space and get to apply, that by no means occurred. McCaffrey talked to a number of gamers individually.

“All of the ups and downs we’ve been by, all of the detrimental speak, man we’ve simply are available right here and preserving combating, preserve working arduous, simply preserve believing,” Foreman mentioned. “We’ve nonetheless received positives within the season and if we deal with these positives we are able to have a optimistic final result.”

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